Hello another Friday. I'm very happy so many of you are liking this story, like always let me know your opinion and any advice. I might not answer the comments (is hard for me to sit down for more than 5 minutes to do something in the computer lately and I try to put myself to write when I have time) but read always read them and I really appreciate them.
I hope you like this new chapter!
-Oh, God.- he whispered and started running.
-Dad! Dad! – I heard a kid screaming. The happy and playful kid I remembered was there, running towards Rick and jumping to his arms. Rick was kissing him, hugging his son and crying happy tears.
I went to stand next to Harry and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. We were both happy to see them reunited. Rick hugged who I remembered was Lori and they cried together. It was something great to see among all the death and despair.
Merle walked past us not saying a word to anybody but not making trouble either. I would have to deal with him before he could tell anything to anybody. Or maybe even attack us. Glenn introduce me to the rest of the camp and when Rick finally let go Carl off of his arms I heard his boyish voice saying:
-Hermione?- he ran towards me and jumped on my arms.
-Hey, little boy.- I whispered almost crying.- I'm so happy to see you.
-How are you here? I thought you were in England.
-We were. But when everything started, we took a plane to come and look for you guys.
That was the official story, he didn't need to know the truth for now. Lori got closer to us, hugged Carl and smiled at us. Her smile wasn't completely honest, it looked like she was happy we were alive but not really happy of having us there.
-Is good to see you, Hermione.
-Likewise.- I said.- This is Harry, my friend.
-Are your parents with you?- see asked looking behind us, I could see a hint of fear in her eyes.
-No, they both died a few months ago.
-Sorry.- she said in a hurry.- Is good to see you are safe.
We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to rest. Rick couldn't rip his eyes apart from his son and his wife and I felt waves of jealousy. Is not like he was ignoring me now, he kept talking to me and sharing stories with us. But he had his own family.
We walk around the camp to check the perimeter. As we had noticed when we arrived, there was close to no protection at all. We were exposed to the forest and any walker who came that way. I could protect our tent like I did during the war, but the camp was far to big. I didn't have the knowledge to do that. Fortunately I remembered I had a book about wards in by bag and that seemed a good project to focus my brain to. I had to start looking for ingredients for potions and remedies we might need and maybe transcribe all the information about the ingredients and potion instructions. Something like a pocket book of magical remedies. Easy to carry, easy to share and easy to copy.
Merle stay the whole afternoon in his tent, probably going down after being so high in the city. Anyway, he didn't go out of his tent which for now was good for me. I still needed to talk to Harry and Rick, and maybe even Glenn. At dinner time Harry got a plate for him, he went to his tent and left the plate in front of the door saying "You have some dinner here". He didn't wait for a response before coming back to sit down next to me in front of the fire.
Surprisingly it wasn't Merle who concerned me the most, there was another family in the campsite and it was pretty obvious something was happening with the father. Rick was seeing it too, I could see him shaking and tilting his head slightly, trying to control his own temper. The man, who Lori had introduced as Ed sooner that day, threw another log to the fire with disdain.
-Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log? -said Shane in what we had learned was his usual confrontational tone of voice.
-It's cold, man.- we could see his wife and his daughter trying to make themselves smaller at his aggressive tone.
-The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?
I didn't like Shane, his voice tone, they way he carried himself, he was a bully. But he was right on that.
-I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once.
Shane got up at that, ready for something more than just words. Rick, knowing very well his old friend, straightened his back, ready just in case.
-Are you sure you want to have this conversation, man? -said Shane softly.
-Go on. Pull the damn thing out.- answered Ed without looking at Shane. I knew that kind of people, he would get aggressive and brave against someone smaller but wont say a thing against someone his own size.
Carol and Sophia, his wife and kid, stayed there, not wanting to look at anybody. Meanwhile Ed was drilling them with his eyes.
I looked at Harry, we had to do something with him.
We had set up our tent in a small space next to Rick's, Harry and I were sharing which has earned us a couple of looks from Lori. If any of them had taken a look inside the tent, they would have seen that the inside was weirdly spacious and comfortable. There were two small cots covered with nice blankets with a stars and suns pattern -they were a Christmas gift from Luna, they regulated your temperature so you are never too cold or too hot- and the temperature was nicely warm. Not like the overwhelming hot from outside. But they wouldn't have because the tent had a spell to deter any muggles from looking inside.
That night Harry slept like a baby, he was snoring next to me for a big part of the night while I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Merle and our trip here. And what to do next.I sat down on my cot and started to organize the potions we had, following by any ingredients I had packed -they were in a different bag with a protector spell, is important to preserve them properly-, then I started to read my book about wards. After a few hours reading I finally fell sleep to the sound of the peaceful forest.
The morning after we wake up with the first lights of the day like we use to do during the war.
-We need to set up some wards.- told me Harry.- Both magical and normal ones, could you take care of that?
I was my job to do it during the time we lived in the forest during the war.
-Maybe. I've been reading about it.- I told him holding the book to show him.- Is easy to do it with something small like one tent, like in the war. But for all the group with the cars and the living space? I think I would need an anchor, something big and pure to carve a rune to channel some magic. Like a dome. That is how it works in Hogwarts. I have a couple of books about that but is going to take me some time lo learn how to do it.
-And we need to do something now, I know. One person on watch is not enough.
With that said we got ready, we got clean clothes -a long sleeve t-shirt to cover my scar- from our bags but nothing to fancy that could attract attention, our knives and our wands. We waited for a few minutes listening carefully just in case there was something -or someone- outside, and when we were satisfied with the peaceful lack of noise we headed out.
We said good morning to Dale who looked like the only one who ever stayed on watch in this camp and Harry went to send him to sleep.
-You should go, have some rest. I can take care of this for a while.- told him from the ladder of the RV.
The old man, tired of the long night, gladly handed his riffle to Harry and went inside the RV to try to sleep. Harry looked at me and took the riffle like if it was some kind of dangerous animal. Growing up in the muggle world he knew about guns but he had never ever had one in his hands, specially something as big as a riffle.
I went to join Carol who was working around the campfire, she trying to make something for breakfast from a couple of cans and a small animal that I didn't really want to think what it was. After a couple of days of barely eating even that looked great. This remembered me to the time during the war we had to scavenge and hunt by ourselves, it wasn't easy at all and we went hungry most of the days. That was why Ron had abandoned us in the forest, he was hungry and cold and tired.
The time went by like that, Rick was still sleeping completely exhausted by yesterday and the rest of us were trying to did what we can to survive. Some were keeping the cars working, other were cleaning clothes or organizing our supplies. Carl and Sophia were playing close by, always were we could see them. Lori hadn't say anything else to me yet and I could see she was keeping her distance from me. But I could see something else as well. And I didn't want to think bad about someone else but those looks she was sending to Shane, sharing with him… It looked like they meant something. I looked at Harry wondering if he was seeing the same as me, but he was busy keeping a close watch of our surroundings, which to be honest I was glad he was. I would keep that information in my mind to share with him later. Rick woke up not long after and went to say good morning to Lori and Carl. After them he came to give me a kiss on the top of my head.
-Did you guys sleep well? -he asked. I was happy to see he wasn't implying anything was happening between Harry and me.
In that moment a terrified scream broke the calm atmosphere we had in the camp, dragging us back to the situation we were living in. Rick, Shane and Glenn ran in the direction of the scream and I went behind them telling Harry to stay where he was.
When we got the source of the scream we found Carl and Sophia, who had just got out our sight for a moment, and had found a walker feeding from a deer nearby. Lori took the kids back to the camp and stopped Amy and Andrea on their way to us.
The walker turned around and took a couple of steps before Rick and Shane made it fall over. I stood behind the men of the group while they were hitting the walker, everywhere except for the head. All of them in a circle around the walker, just hitting it everywhere, but not the head. It would be funny to see if it wasn't dangerous. Why didn't they go for the head? Finally Dale split its head in half with his ax.
-It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain.- said Dale still shaken.
-Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what.- said Jim, the person appointed to take care of the cars in the camp.
Some branches started to snap around and we all faced the source of the noise. This time I was ready to help to finish this faster than before. But from between the branches a young man came out, maybe 5 years older than me, with short hair and pale skin. He was holding a crossbow like if it was an extension of his arm and was carrying a garland of squirrels around his shoulder. He moved through the forest like if he was use to this since forever and for some reason I couldn't rip my eyes away from him. I knew looking at him like this was wrong, he wasn't a piece of meat to be looked at, but...
-Son of a bitch.- he said in a thick accent.- That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… Filthy, disease-bearing motherless poxy bastard!- said emphasizing every word with a kick to the walker.
-Calm down, son. That's not helping – told him Dale.
-Darlyna! You are finally back.- I heard Merle calling the new guy from behind me. It was the first time Merle had came out of his tent since we got back yesterday and he looked pretty much recovered from our eventful trip. He hadn't said anything to anybody or given any signs of talking or attacking me, but I still needed to talk to Harry and Rick to tell them Merle knew about magic thanks to me. But still I didn't regret saving his life.
-I've been tracking this deer for miles .- said Daryl retrieving his arrows from the dead deer.- Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?
-I would not risk that.- told him Shane.
-The risk of contamination is too high.- I said too fast. Maybe I should just shut up and try to blend in.
-And who are you? -he asked me, looking ready to flip me off or shot me an arrow.
-They are Officer Friendly and his kid. One of his kids- said Merle in a mocking tone.- And her boyfriend should be around somewhere. We meet yesterday in the city, it was a damn funny trip.
He was talking looking at my eyes but not in a menacing way, it was more like when you know a secret about someone and you want them to know. I was fucked. Making his best friendly face Rick ignored Merle and took a step forward saying.
-I'm Rick Grimes and this is my… daughter, Hermione. And her friend Harry, he's on watch now. Lori is my wife and Carl, is my son. I was looking for them.
He nodded to us like he didn't really care about us or our names but had a look in his eyes like if he knew something we didn't.
-I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do.
And he went with Merle to the camp while talking about skinning the unlucky animals.
The life in the camp was slow and tense, everybody knew walkers could barged in the camp at any moment and still we all wanted to have a somewhat normal life. For some reason Shane had made himself leader of the group and he had divided chores between women and men. Women would take care of the food, laundry and most of the kids related things and men would work on the cars, stay on watch and fight. Or try to fight because what I had seen before was concerning. But Shane didn't do anything at all, he walked around, pretending to be busy. He walked like he owned the place and everybody should just follow his lead. He was an asshole. And Rick for some reason couldn't see through all of that, maybe because they had been friends since they were kids. But I could. And a quick shared glance with Harry told he could too.
We had a surprisingly nice squirrel soup for lunch and I made a point of thanking to Daryl for the squirrels after Lori had almost refused to eat it. I felt an petty pang of satisfaction when Carl said how much he liked it out loud, for everyone to hear.
-So you guys are English, right?- asked Glenn while we were having lunch.
-Born and raised.- said Harry.
-How did you got here?- asked Andrea this time.
-We took one of the last planes from London to look for my family.- I smiled at Rick and Carl, even to Lori.
-And were are your parents, Harry?
God Andrea was nosy and not very discreet. I looked at Harry letting him answer that.
-My parents died when I was a baby.
-Sorry…
-Why were you in England if your family is here, Hermione?- asked me Shane. He was Rick's friend so either he didn't knew about my parents -which meant he wasn't as good friend of Rick as he thought- or he liked to be a prick. Judging by Rick's look he was being a huge prick.
-I attended a boarding school there. There's were we meet.- I said pointing to Harry.
-So that's where you learned all your… royalty stuff, huh?- said Merle in his mocking tone. They both were trying to mess around with me but for some reason Merle comments felt different, they weren't as aggressive as Shane's.
After we had cleaned the dishes I gestured to Harry and Rick to follow me, it was time to talk. We went to the margin of the camp where we could still hear everybody but we could talk in privacy.
-Merle knows about me.- I said without delay.
-Did he said something? He saw you doing something?- asked Harry.
-He didn't say anything at all. But before, when Daryl arrived and now during the lunch, he was very clear. He knows.
-How does he know? – asked Rick, with his hands in his hips and looking to the camp.
-Yesterday in the rooftop, when we had to run to the van. T-Dog had the keys for the handcuffs, remember? -they nodded to me and I kept going- He dropped them.
-He did?- asked Rick.-Was that and accident or…?
-It looked like an accident. He went to help him but fell down and dropped the keys down a drain. After that he just ran down the stairs. I was there, holding the door for them and I couldn't leave him there. He's an asshole but he doesn't deserved that.
-You did the right thing, Hermione – assure me Rick.
-Oh, Officer Friendly, you're gonna make me cry.- said the raspy voice of Merle from between the trees behind us.- We are friends now, huh?
Merle and Daryl walked out of the first line of trees, Daryl wasn't carrying his crossbow this time but he looked as pissed off as before.
-You were gonna left my brother handcuffed to a pipe? – he asked.
-No.- answered Rick with his hand ready to pull his gun out.- But he was a danger for the rest of us, I'm sure you understand that.
-Is alright, I understand. Maybe I was too rough yesterday.- said Merle.- Just like I understand what is your girl, and probably her boyfriend too.
The cat was out of the bag. I hold my wand under the sleeve and I knew Harry was doing the same. We could knock them down with a desmaius and erase their memories about yesterday and today. Merle was smiling at us and Daryl was standing behind him, giving quick looks to the camp.
-Cut that shit.- Daryl said to Merle, pushing him lightly aside.- Our ma was like you, that's why we know.
I looked at him surprised, I was expecting blackmail and threats, not that.
-Oh, are you…?
-Nah, we aren't.- he answered. When he was calm and Merle wasn't talking for him he actually sounded even nice.
-And what are you going to do with this information? -asked Rick.
-Nothin'.- said Daryl before Merle couldn't say any other idiocy.-As long as you don't use it to hurt someone, we are good.
-Of course not.- I said.- Thank you, we are just trying to survive, like everybody else.
-And is easier if nobody is trying to kill us because of what we are.- said Harry next to me.
We went separate ways to finish our chores and spent the rest of the day in the camp. Knowing they wouldn't say anything, and I completely trusted their word, lifted a huge weight from my shoulders.
Right before dinner, when the sun was going down, I sat down in front of the fire where Carol was heating some cans. When Ed was away from her she looked like a whole different person, good sense of humor, capable, loving mother. But as soon as he got close to her it was like she was trying to disappear. I looked at her arm, she had a purple bruise close to her elbow. We couldn't let Ed keep doing this to Carol and Sophia.
I took my notebook from my back pocket and started to write down a list of things we should do and things I should personally do. I needed to learn more about wards and medicine, both magical and muggle. We needed to train and learn to hunt. We couldn't rely on the men of the group to defend ourselves and definitely couldn't rely only on Merle and Daryl to get more food. That wasn't fair. We had some cans but they wouldn't last forever. We needed to secure the camp, put traps on and maybe some kind of wall. Or even better, just get the hell out of here. We needed to look for a place to settle down, with walls and a roof. Specially for the kids.
When we were all having dinner, except for T-Dog who was on top of the RV on watch, I made the question I had in my mind the whole day.
-So what's the plan?
-The plan?- asked Dale.
-Yeah, are going to stay here? Shouldn't we look for a more… sheltered place? – I asked again.
They all looked doubtful, like if their opinion haven't been heard so far.
-That would be good, actually. Having a roof over our heads .- said Glenn.
-We are safe here.- said Shane categorically. Shutting down any possible argument.
-No we are not.- said Harry, not even a bit afraid of Shane.- We had a walker this morning, is a matter of time that more of them come the same way. And we don't have walls or a roof. We have a garland of cans, that's our big protection. And a few guns.
We had lived on the run for months and this situation was close enough to what we had lived to know that we were highly unprotected.
-The English royalty is right.- said Merle.- We are not safe here.
-Yes, we are.- said Shane again, using his body weight and deep voice to try to make us shut up. Which I was sure wouldn't fly with the Dyxon brothers.
-I think they are right, Shane.- said Rick in a conciliatory voice.- We should move now, before winter comes, look for a place where we can protect ourselves. This place's been good, but we need more.
I could see they were all looking intermittently between Rick and Shane, noticing how the balance of power was changing inside the group. Lori, who I thought would have this very clear, looked more doubtful than anyone, and that feeling that something was happening with her got back.
We left the conversation there for the night and went to sleep. I wanted to wake up early to look for some ingredients and the first few hours of the day were perfect for that matter.
I woke up when it was still dark outside, I checked the time with my hand and prepared myself to get out of the tent. I make a sign to Glenn who was on watch that night and started to walk to the forest.
Being by myself in the forest when the first few light of the day were starting to appear was frightening. I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following me but couldn't see anything. And then I started to think about our situation and I felt terrible because I was sure that I had made a huge mistake. I shouldn't have dragged Harry here, to a certain death. The group was a disaster and it wasn't their fault. The had never had to survive before and they thought they could keep living like nothing had happened. They relied on Glenn with his runs to the city and Merle and Daryl and their hunting trips to eat. They were ignoring the fact that they had close to no protection whatsoever around the camp to keep the walkers away. And they were following a shit of a leader like Shane who would lead them to their deaths in not too long. Rick had to take control of the group, I was sure he could be a capable leader. Or at least take the control away from Shane. And if he didn't want to… Harry and I would have to do it. Because I wasn't going to die.
I heard a branch snapped behind me a turn around holding my wand up, pointing to the noise. Behind me was Daryl, now pointing at me with his crossbow.
-What are you doing here? – he asked still pointing at me.
I lowered my wand slowly, holding my hands in a peace gesture and he did the same.
-I wanted to foraged some potion ingredients.
-And you came alone?
-I would have told Andrea but I thought she would freak out.
-Huh, probably.
The silence between us was uncomfortable so I pulled my notebook out again and took a few steps to show him my pictures.
-I'm looking for this. They might have different names here but the pictures are close enough to how they look. If I could find them I could make some balms and cures, some potions we might need in case of accidents, or even in case we can't find any food and we need a boost.
He took the notebook and looked at the drawings I had made the day before of the plants. He looked quietly, paying attention to the details and reading my notes. I felt horribly self conscious, I had never shown my pictures to anybody, not even Harry. And there I was, showing them to a person I just met. I looked at his blue eyes fixed in the pages, he bit his lip and looked at me.
-They are good.
-Thanks.- I whispered blushing like a small girl. Circe…
-I think I've seen some of them not to far away from here. I'll show you.
I started to walk behind him, following his steps through the forest. And I felt charmed looking at him, his movements, the way he guided himself, how he looked around analysing his surroundings. I talked to him about the different potions I might be able to make if we found the ingredients, just to fill the silence. I was use to talk to the boys and be answered by silence, they would ignore my rumbling. Harry would try to follow me for a while, but no too long though. But Daryl was actually listening, he would ask me questions and make comments. And he knew about traditional remedies, which was an invaluable knowledge, and was open to share the information with me. Not too long after we had found every single one of the ingredient of my list. Daryl caught a couple of squirrels and a small bird with a swift move of his crossbow and it was time to go back to the camp.
I feel like there's not much happening in this chapter but at the same time we finally have all the main character from the first season. And of course the first conversation with Daryl, which was harder to write that I ever thought. I hope you liked it!